Nat Rothschild has stepped down from the board of Barrick Gold after ten
years, amid the escalating controversy engulfing UK-listed Bumi.

Mr Rothschild, who is one of the co-founders of Bumi, is fighting for control of the coal miner and is thought to want to devote more time to winning shareholders over to his plans.

Earlier this week, Mr Rothschild called for a shareholder vote at Bumi to remove 12 out of 14 of the company’s directors, which will be decided at a February extraordinary annual meeting.

Mr Rothschild has been on the main board of Barrick since 2010 and on the advisory board before that. The Toronto-based company, where ex-Goldman Sachs chief executive John Thornton is co-chairman, is traded both in New York and Toronto.

It is thought that the Barrick’s board meetings, based in Toronto, were too much of a distraction given Mr Rothschild’s hopes of becoming executive director of Bumi after the EGM.

Barrick also owns 73.9pc in FTSE listed African Barrick Gold (ABG), which saw its shares plunge almost 20pc on Tuesday after talks over a possible sale of the company fell away.